Early in the morning of the 24th, scout
planes from the 3rd Fleet sighted the Japanese Center Force of battleships and cruisers.
However, land based Japanese bombers on Luzon in concert with some carrier planes
initiated heavy air strikes before a major attack could be launched by US naval forces.
The first wave of Japanese planes struck the Irwin's task group (T.G. 38.3) and repeated
heavy air strikes were delivered by the enemy. Most were successfully beaten off with
Japanese losses at more than 100 aircraft.
Then, one lone Japanese plane came out of a rain cloud and released a bomb with
extraordinary accuracy. The bomb hit the aircraft carrier Princeton, with the Irwin
screening nearby. There was an initial explosion, followed by a series of lesser
explosions. The secondary explosions resulted from the ignition of gasoline in storage
tanks and on planes, from bombs, torpedoes, ammunition, rockets and fuel oil on the
carrier.
The Princeton (CVL-23) was one of nine carriers constructed on Cleveland class cruiser
hulls in early 1943 as a short cut to get fast carriers into the Pacific. It carried a
crew of 1570 with a displacement of 11,000 tons.
Men topside and on the bridge of the Irwin witnessed the explosions and ensuing flames.
The carrier went dead in the water. The carrier signaled for assistance in fighting fires
and saving lives. In a heroic saga, the Irwin braved raging flames, violent explosions,
falling debris and exploding shells as Captain Miller headed his ship toward the carrier
and laid alongside.
Captain Miller took the windward position on the port side. The carrier rolled from
side to side in a choppy sea which made ship handling difficult and repair parties stagger
on board the slowing, now bobbing destroyer. Confronted with dense black smoke, fire
fighting equipment was broken out; the lifesaving squad summoned to standby; and lines
made ready to send to the Princeton.
Both ships rolled in the swells. One moment the destroyer's upper structure was
twenty feet away from the carrier and the next the Irwin's bridge was crashing
against the carrier's huge side with a frightening grinding and scraping as metal
pounded metal. To make matters worse, ammunition on the carrier's deck was cooking
off and flying in all directions, much heading straight at the Irwin. There were also
minor explosions in the carrier's small boats that sent jets of flame and fragments
of steel into the air.
There were half a dozen men trapped in a gun tub on the port side of the carrier. The
exit from the turret was blocked by flames, leaving the gun crew to choose between burning
to death or leaping down into the surging sea now becoming trapped between the two merging
ship's hulls. As the Irwin came closer, the gunners leaped onto the Irwin's upper
deck when she nosed up to the stricken carrier.
The Irwin began to direct her fire hoses into the flames of the carrier after the two
ships were fastened bow to bow. But the Irwin's firefighters were unable to direct
water well enough to effectively fight the fires sweeping through the carrier. One quick
thinking group of Princeton sailors during a favorable roll, leaped from the carrier to
the destroyer, grabbed a hose and leaped back to the carrier on the next swing inward and
delivered water into the raging fires.
On the bridge of the Irwin, attention was momentarily focused on sparks flying out the
side of the carrier as a few men were desperately trying to escape by cutting their way
through the hull of the ship using oxyacetylene torches. A small explosion was heard and
the sparks tragically ceased.
The ships were together in a shallow V, bows touching occasionally, with sterns a
considerable distance apart. The fire that had swept the stern of the carrier had killed
many of the men stationed there, so most of the living were forward. Word was soon passed
to the destroyer that the order had been given on the carrier to abandon ship.
The men on the Princeton began to make a great leap from their forecastle to the
bobbing deck of the Irwin many feet below. This was not easy as the ships were rolling in
the heaving sea. The Irwin lost her starboard anchor in one of the many bumps.
There were hundreds of men yet to be saved as the flames continued to move nearer the
magazines of the carrier. There was a desperate need to hurry and yet the slightest
mistake or panic meant more loss of life.
The Princeton's sailors had to time their jumps as the bows of the ships came
together. Only two or three could jump at a time. If they missed they would fall into the
swirling abyss between the rocking ship hulls.
Most of the Princeton crew were rescued this way. And despite the raging fires and
continuing explosions, there were still men alive on the carrier. Several crew men were
able to heave lines over to the destroyer and slide down to safety. A few lost their grip
and fell into the sea, but managed to swim around to the open side of the destroyer and
get hauled aboard.
For the men who could not get to the life lines, there was nothing else to do but
simply jump into the sea and swim - be they fit, wounded, burned or exhausted.
Hundreds of men made the leap down the steep side of the carrier and were saved by the
lifesaving party made up of thirty-two of the Irwin's strongest swimmers. More than once,
all thirty-two were in the water at the same time saving lives. Some 120 men from the
Princeton owe their lives directly to Irwin's swimmers, as most would never have been
able to stay afloat without assistance.
There were seriously wounded men on the deck of the carrier unable to jump much less
swim. A Breeches Buoy ( a seat on a pulley) was rigged and muscled by a group of Irwin
sailors gripping the lines tightly in their hands and dozens of men were hauled aboard.
The tiny destroyer, was shaking to pieces. The bridge was smashed and the telephone
circuits and gunnery control were out. All orders were bellowed from the bridge to working
parties stationed on the forecastle and aft. Seriously overloaded now with 646 survivors
on board, the Irwin backed away.
The only Irwin casualty occurred when an officer cut his finger opening a container of
blood-plasma. Thankfully, because of many donations made stateside by the Irwin's
crew, the ship was able to inventory a greater than normal allowance of blood plasma. If
this had not been the case, many more Princeton lives would have been lost.
The remainder of the survivors were now being taken aboard the cruiser Birmingham and
the destroyers Morrison, Cassin Young and the Gatling.
The Morrison was on the other side of the Princeton. Because of the continuing swells,
the Morrison soon became tangled with the carrier and could not pull away. It was a
desperate situation. The magazines of the carrier were thought likely to explode at any
moment which would blast the Morrison to pieces. There was also the cruiser Birmingham
outboard of the Morrison.
The Irwin passed a towing wire to pull the destroyer free. The first attempt failed.
Just as the tow wire began to take a strain, a mass of floating wreckage jammed the
cooling water into the Irwin's port engine. The port engine stopped abruptly, and
with the starboard engine still turning, the ship swung quickly hard to port. The tow was
let go and the Irwin crashed against the Birmingham, crushing boats and knocking off
anchors and other projections on both ships.
A second attempt was successful using mooring lines and the Morrison was freed. With
both destroyers clear - perhaps in less than five minutes - the Princeton's
magazines went off. The Birmingham was not so fortunate. Still alongside when the
Princeton exploded, 200 crewmen topside fighting the fires were killed instantly.
It became apparent that nothing now could save the Princeton. The carrier was ordered
sunk by our own ships. The cruiser Reno put the critically wounded flattop under with
torpedoes. The Princeton would become the only "Cleveland" class carrier lost to
enemy action.
The Irwin departed with the Morrison in escort of the devastated Birmingham. With 1000
men now on board, her sides warped and battered, her port engine refusing to function, her
starboard shaft curved, her sides leaking and her main armament control completely out of
action, what else could have possibly happened? The Irwin soon found herself under attack
by Japanese airplanes. Men outside the gun mounts, now without power, turned the guns
around by hand until the pointers inside shouted stop! Then the guns were fired to beat
off the attack and incredibly even manage to bring down an enemy aircraft.
Surgeons performed scores of emergency operations on board the overcrowded Irwin. The
last of the Irwin's troubles occurred when, with all those sick and exhausted men on
board, the Irwin ran out of drinking water.
The Irwin sped toward the safe haven of Ulithi with the Princeton's survivors. Ulithi
was a large atoll in the Western Carolines between the Philippines and Guam. This was an
advance fleet base provided for the reassignment of survivors and emergency repairs to
battle damaged ships.
Ultimately, the three prong attack by the Japanese to drive the US navy from the
Philippines failed. The Japanese Southern Force was largely destroyed in the Battle of
Surigao Straits. Their decoy carriers were destroyed off the Cape of Engano. Their
powerful bombardment Central Force of battleships and cruisers, first hit by US submarines
and then by aircraft in the Sibuyan Sea was turned back in the Battle of Samar. Here the
tiny US destroyer screen protecting the escort carriers actually counterattacked, losing
three destroyers in the process. (Admiral Nimitz declared this the most glorious two-hours
of resolution, sacrifice and success in the history the US navy.)
From Ulithi, the Irwin was sent back to the states for much needed repairs and
overhaul. The Irwin arrived at Hunter's Point Navy Yard in San Francisco on November
17, 1944 after 6 months of grueling nonstop Pacific action. The ship remained in the yard
until January 23, 1945. The Irwin received a Navy Unit Commendation for her Princeton
rescue effort.
After this brief two month respite for overhaul and repair, the Irwin headed once again
to the Pacific war arriving at Saipan on February 14, 1945 to join Task Force 58.
From February 19 to 23, the Irwin helped screen attack carriers as they provided direct
air support for the invasion of Iwo Jima which lay halfway between Japan and the Marianas.
Taken at great cost, Iwo Jima was later to be used as an emergency field for B-29s
returning from bombing runs on Japan. Then the Irwin joined in the pre-invasion
bombardment of Okinawa from March 27 through 31, fighting off repeated attacks from
planes, torpedo boats, and suicide craft.
As part of a large force of battleships, carriers and destroyers, the Irwin tried to
soften the way for marines and soldiers who were arriving to conquer Okinawa to provide an
even closer air base from which the Japanese homeland could be struck continuously.
By this time, "Kamikaze" or suicide attacks became a widespread last ditch
tactic of the Japanese. Early warning picket destroyers became the special targets of
suicide pilots. The Irwin was to knock down her share.
On March 30, the Irwin repelled three Japanese torpedo boats, sinking one, damaging
another, and forcing the other to flee.
As the marines stormed ashore at Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the Irwin shot down a twin
engine bomber and rescued one enemy survivor.
For two long months, the Irwin bombarded enemy artillery positions, machine gun
emplacements, troop concentrations, caves, and suicide boat building places. Her guns
blasted the torpedo boats that slipped out of hiding, she hurled thousands of rounds of
ammunition into the enemy troops on Okinawa and Ie Shima. There was no letup; no rest
period. Night and day for weeks at a time, the ship fired continuously. Green youngsters
who joined the ship's crew at commissioning were now seasoned "tin can" sailors
who lugged ammunition all day and fired all night.
The Irwin shot down a suicide torpedo bomber on April 12 and scored another kill on the
16th as she covered the landings on Ie Shima. Another enemy suicide plane was shot down on
the 21st of May.
Irwin also figured in another mercy mission the night of June 16. She assisted other
destroyers in the rescue of 180 survivors from the destroyer Twiggs (DD-591), sunk by a
combination of a torpedo from a bomber and a follow on suicide attack by the same plane.
Unfortunately, 152 men perished.
The USS Morrison, which the Irwin had helped save from disaster during the Princeton
rescue, was not as lucky a second time and was sunk May 3 by repeated Kamikaze attacks.
More than 150 men perished.
During the last three months of the Okinawa campaign the Irwin operated under a new
Commanding Officer. Commander Miller who was slated for a higher post was succeeded by
Commander Robert B. Kelly, USN who previously had served on PT boats.
The Irwin remained off Okinawa until hostilities ceases with Japan on August 15, 1945.
For the navy, the campaign was the most costly of the entire war. Thirty US ships were
sunk, 368 damaged and 5,000 sailors died in action around Okinawa.
The Irwin entered Tokyo Bay on August 31. She escorted occupation troops between
Okinawa and Japan until October 26 when she sailed out of Yokosuka to return to San Diego
arriving on November 15, 1945. Following inactivation overhaul, she was decommissioned on
May 31, 1946 and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet - 2 years and three months after
commissioning.
The men who served on the Irwin did heroic work. It was in many ways typical Pacific
destroyer duty, but unique in that it was probably one of the longest and toughest duties
on record. The Irwin's incredible luck in combat would be tested again in just a few
short years.
